July Morning, 4 am (sketch)

There are no known descriptions or photographs of this lost painting, but Astrup’s title “July Morning, 4 am” indicates that it is a landscape painting depicting a summer night.

The work was exhibited at Astrup’s exhibition at Bergens kunstforening (art society) in 1908, priced at 90 kroner. It was not sold, so it was returned to Astrup in Jølster after the exhibition. In Astrup’s list from 1927, the artist writes that the painting was lost in the Bergen fire of 1916. It was probably one of the paintings that Moritz Kaland (1869–1947) was storing for Astrup. Correspondence from after the fire reveals that Kaland’s studio was completely destroyed and that he suffered great losses. Kaland, who at that time was the Director of the Bergen Visual Arts Museum, was an artist and friend of Astrup.